Show Me Your Nails 2.0

[Tamara76]

Due to some technical glitches with the original Show Me Your Nails Thread, I am starting a new thread with @vegchililover78's blessing (She says "hello," by the way!).

Please share your nail looks, nail art and manicures!

...And don't forget to check out @Beadshopgirl's Nail Stamping Thread for stamping inspiration! ❤️  

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Nailed-It/The-Nail-Stamping-Thread/m-p/3328865

[Titian06]

Pretty topper, @Mellmars1185 ! 😍  You will be able to use it with so many colors in addition to by itself.

[Mellmars1185]

@Titian06 Thank you. I havent been able to find many shades with sparkles or specks so far. This was the first one I had. It is a nude pink colour. So far I like it!

[Titian06]

@Mellmars1185 - The base color is absolutely perfect on you!  I enlarged the pic to look at the pretty sparklies before replying.  I thought it was a clear base! 😄

[Mellmars1185]

@Titian06 Thank you so much 😊

[WinglessOne]

I’m giving my nails a couple days' break from color, wearing nothing but Butter London Jelly Preserve Strengthening Treatment shade Victoria Plum. Also shortened them all again. 

Meanwhile, I’ve played with Whats Up Nails Eyegazer metallic holo topper on a couple of spare swatch sticks. @RGbrown might be pleased to know it's not just her: this polish is kinda hard to work with. 😅 

First, here’s my labeled stick—the one I’ll keep with my other topper sticks. I used a ring magnet on 2 normal coats of Eyegazer and a glossy top coat. Magnet was applied after each Eyegazer coat and the top coat. 

Then I used KBShimmer’s S magnet to pull an X rainbow and a single stripe rainbow. These photos show how much the metal bits migrate/shift around while drying. The non-flash photos don’t show the holo rainbow, but in person it’s more noticeable on the X swatch. Neither the X or wavy stripe are nearly as rainbowy as the band I pulled with my ring magnet; might be because I used 2 coats on that swatch. 

Not photographed: the failures of Eyegazer in one thin coat (as thin yet full coverage as I could get) and two thick coats. I didn't try over a white base color, and now I wonder if a silver base would pop more of the rainbow while hiding some of Eyegazer's own base. 

Lessons learned: 

1. The wider the pulled stripe/band, the more obvious the holo rainbow. I kinda expected that, based on experiences with other magnetic polishes. 
   
   
2. A thin coat of Eyegazer is ineffective for a magnet look. Gotta lay down at least one substantial coat of this polish. One thick coat works. Two normal coats, with magnet applied to each, yields the best results. Two thick coats is nearly beyond the rainbow pulling threshold. 
   
   
3. I think this polish is too thick for its own good. Then again, thinning it could cause more problems; see next lesson. 
   
   
4. The metal bits migrate a lot after magnet application, no matter how long the magnet’s held over the nail. That’s why my once sharp thin X lines widened and fuzzed up within 3 minutes of post-app. I didn’t try holding a nail over a bar magnet, instead of holding a magnet over the nail. That method usually pulls a wide diffused band. I suspect it might not work so well with this polish, but I might test it at some point. 
   
   
5. The grey/silver base is much stronger than I expected. I bought Eyegazer thinking it’d have a nearly clear base once a magnet was applied. But I couldn’t pull enough polish with a magnet to leave large bare (or black, in the case of my swatch experiments) areas. 

I might pour a puddle of Eyegazer and add a bit of thinner to that, just to see how it affects things. I don’t wanna thin the whole bottle without some pre-testing. I also need to try this topper on a real nail, especially while holding a finger over a bar magnet. 

With Eyegazer as-is, I can imagine a few stormy sky and mystic fog nail art ideas. And it can create a lovely ombre effect with various magnet methods. So it’s not a total loss. 🙂 In fact, this polish would be a good filler for a crystal ball on a nail… if I ever freehand paint a crystal ball on my thumb nail again, maybe I’ll use this polish to fill it in. 

EDIT: For the heck of it, here's Eyegazer compared to Cirque Colors Helter Seltzer, another magnetic rainbow holo polish. Cirque doesn't call theirs a topper, as it has a steely blue base. Helter Seltzer was easier to work with. Both swatches were done with a ring magnet. 

L: Whats Up Nails Eyegazer on a black base. R: Cirque Colors Helter Seltzer on its own (no base color).

[Saradestin]

Such a masterclass @WinglessOne ! 😮 Thank you for your always detailed experiments. They are as scientific as they can be! You make our lives easier and our failures less probable 😊

[itsfi]

These are great @WinglessOne! Love seeing how these performed. I’ve debated over a magnet ring for a long time. I rarely use my magnet and thought the same would be the case with a magnet ring, but maybe not after seeing these. 🤔 

Oh!! Some “stormy sky and mystic fog nail art” would be amazing! 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @itsfi ! A ring magnet's very handy if you're slow on the draw with a bar magnet like I sometimes am, or you don't often keep the bar magnet under your fingers. 

I'll also recommend the S magnet. It's a bar, not a ring. It can create multiple effects, including the X pattern. It's fun to play with. There are a few YouTube videos about using S and ring magnets. 

[Titian06]

Very interesting, @WinglessOne ! 🙂

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Titian06 !

[Mellmars1185]

@WinglessOne Beautiful swatches and so neat!

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Mellmars1185 !

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOne 

Ahhhhhhh, this is amazing! I love all of your experimenting...it's nice to have a better idea of ways to approach this one, especially since I'm not super versed in magnetics to begin with, and seemingly have no patience with them 😅 I am glad to see you corroborate that one thin coat was basically useless, as that probably would have been where I started again next time, dropping me straight into frustration once more.  

Alternate theory on adding thinner:

Thick, gloopy polishes take forever to dry, but thinner evaporates almost immediately, and thinning down a thick polish can sometimes help speed the drying process along by allowing the solvents trapped in the goop to escape easier. 

That said...I dunno if this one is in that particular category of "way too thick", so yup, it's certainly a good idea to test a little before thinning the whole bottle. Too thin, and I suspect all the magnetic particles will just fall out of suspension completely. 

I don't think there are a ton of magnetic holo toppers out there...I wonder if this is why? I recall another indie (KBshimmer maybe? Not 100% on that though) did one last holiday season, but wound up discounting it pretty heavily not long after release...turned out the magnetic holo they used did something unanticipated and undesirable after a few months...turned the base grey maybe? Something along the line of losing it's sparkle, at least.

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown  I'm glad this was helpful! Yeah, one thin coat will hurt your feelings. I mean, you could try it... maybe my bottle of Eyegazer's thicker than usual, I dunno. Kinda doubt it, though. When I get a bottle of magnetic polish, I always test it with a magnet through the bottle to see how easy (or not) is is to pull/push a pattern. Eyegazer seemed okay, just a bit sluggish. That should've been my first clue. 

I think the only way to get this topper to hold a pattern without migrating/shifting is to keep the magnet over it until it dries enough to not move around anymore, which could be up to 20 minutes. But who has the patience to do that? For multiple nails? No thank you. I do worry that thinning this polish will exacerbate the problem, but I won't know for sure without testing, so... next time I'm feeling patient enough to work with Eyegazer, we'll see what happens. I forgot about thinner reducing the drying time of some polishes; that'll be interesting to watch for here. 

Now I'm trying to think of other magnetic toppers I've seen, let alone magnetic holo toppers, and I'm drawing a blank. Well wait, there are some magnetics that are meant to be used over a base color, like the Born Pretty magnetics... I have some of those. Most of them are too sheer on their own and do best over a black or otherwise dark base color. But they're easy to use and they hold patterns/designs very well. None of them are holo toppers, though. I'm also trying to remember the disastrous holiday topper you mentioned. That'll be one of those things I suddenly (finally) remember at 3 AM when I'm trying to fall asleep. 🤣 

[Samtian]

@WinglessOne um wow!!!!

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Samtian  🙂 

[CookieGirl1]

@WinglessOne your pics AND your review is really helpful.  Slightly off-track but do you like using a ring magnet?  I only have a bar but I've wondered if I might like a ring.

[WinglessOne]

Thank you @CookieGirl1 ! I love using a ring magnet. I'm sometimes not fast enough with a bar magnet, which is why I sometimes set the bar up on a table in a way that I can quickly slide my finger under it (vs. holding the bar over the nail). I'm much faster with the ring because I can wear it on my thumb while painting each nail, making the magnet quickly accessible. I usually don't fully remove the ring: I just slide it a bit down my thumb and then hold it over whichever nail needs a magnet. 

You can get different effects from a ring magnet by holding it (not wearing it) flat over a nail, so the magnet faces out sideways. That'll push metal bits and create negative space curves. If you put a freshly painted nail inside the magnet, you'll get some interesting results, especially on longer nails. 

[CookieGirl1]

@WinglessOne thanks for the perspective!  Since I've never had one I'm just not sure but it might be worth a shot.

[blushes88]

Here’s mine

 

[Saradestin]

Beautiful bright pink mani+pedi @blushes88 ! 😍